Commercial disinfectant wipes commonly employ quaternary ammonium (“quat”) disinfectants. Quat-based disinfectants are effective disinfectants because they carry a positive charge, while bacteria, viruses, fungi and/or the like carry a negative charge. Accordingly, when a quat-based disinfectant wipe is applied to a surface, the charge of the bacterial cell changes from negative to positive, thereby disrupting the bacterial cell wall and eventually causing cell death. Some wipes incorporate the quat, while others allow consumers to use their own quat (e.g., liquid quat disinfectant solution) in conjunction with the wipes so that they may vary the quat concentration used. Regardless, some wipes have been found to deplete quat concentration in a disinfectant solution over time due to ionic chemical reactions between the fabric and the quat.
Therefore there at least remains a need in the art for a product that applies a cationic additive to fabric during manufacture to prevent a quat present in a disinfectant solution from attaching ionically to the wipe and depleting the quat concentration in the disinfectant solution.